Full Citation
Title: The Impacts of SNAP Participation on Mortality Rates
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2019
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) targets low-income households and provides benefits used to purchase food. Through supplementing food consumption or freeing up income for other purposes, SNAP benefit receipt may impact recipients’ health outcomes. It is also possible that SNAP has little overall impact on health at all, especially when considering extreme health outcomes like mortality. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impacts of SNAP on various mortality rates. We combine county-level information on SNAP participation, mortality, and state changes in SNAP policy over time. To address the endogeneity of SNAP participation, we employ a novel simulated eligibility instrumental variables framework exploiting variation in state policy generosity. We find evidence that higher SNAP participation reduces the overall mortality rate. Specifically, a one percentage point increase in the SNAP participation rate reduces the overall mortality rate by about 6.68 deaths per 100,000 population on average, or by about 0.81% of the mean overall mortality rate. These mortality reductions are concentrated most heavily among males, whites, and adults aged 20-64. We identify reductions in deaths from major cardiovascular disease and malignant neoplasms as major drivers of these estimated effects, and we also estimate a significant reduction in suicides in some areas
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Courtemanche, Charles; Gregory, Christian; Jones, Jordan; Marton, James
Publisher: University of Kentucky
Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other, Population Health and Health Systems
Countries: